Flight operations with India resume on Friday

PBC News:  Flight operations between Bangladesh and India  will resume on Friday (August 20) under the “air-bubble agreement” between the two countries.

It was stated by Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen while receiving the keys of 31 ambulances gifted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The flights between the two countries are going to resume after four months. The travel between Bangladesh and India came to a halt in April due to the outbreak of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday afternoon, Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka Vikram Doraiswami formally handed over the keys to the representatives of the Bangladesh government at state guest house Padma in the capital.

Speaking at the function, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said passengers would reach their destinations in India from Dhaka directly availing the air-bubble flights. Their flights would not stop at any third airport.

Meanwhile, Biman Bangladesh Airlines in a statement on Tuesday (August 17) said that it will start operating 12 flights between  Bangladesh and India from next week.

Biman will operate flights from Dhaka to Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai, while the Indian carriers will have flights from Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai to Dhaka.

Earlier, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) sent a letter to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of India seeking its approval for resumption of the flight operations from August 11 under the air bubble agreement.

“In view of urgency of movement of the people of both the neighboring countries, the ongoing Covid-9 pandemic situation in Bangladesh and India were reviewed and evaluated…it feels that such operations should be continued until the resumption of scheduled passenger flights…,” the letter reads.

The CAAB said that the passengers to and from Bangladesh and India have to strictly follow some Covid-19 protocol to contain the spread of the deadly virus.

Sources from Bangladesh Biman and Bangladesh mission in New Delhi said that they are expecting that the flights between Bangladesh and India to be resumed by the next two days.

In the letter, CAAB proposed 21 flights per week for the operators of both countries for the time being.